To test the hypothesis that lecturing maximizes learning and course performance, we metaanalyzed 225 studies that reported data on examination scores or failure rates when comparing student performance in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses under traditional lecturing versus active learning. The effect sizes indicate that on average, student performance on examinations and concept inventories increased by 0.47 SDs under active learning (n = 158 studies), and that the odds ratio for failing was 1.95 under traditional lecturing (n = 67 studies). These results indicate that average examination scores improved by about 6% in active learning sections, and that students in classes with traditional lecturing were 1.5 times more likely to fail than were students in classes with active learning. Heterogeneity analyses indicated that both results hold across the STEM disciplines, that active learning increases scores on concept inventories more than on course examinations, and that active learning appears effective across all class sizes—although the greatest effects are in small (n ≤ 50) classes. Trim and fill analyses and fail-safe n calculations suggest that the results are not due to publication bias. The results also appear robust to variation in the methodological rigor of the included studies, based on the quality of controls over student quality and instructor identity. This is the largest and most comprehensive metaanalysis of undergraduate STEM education published to date. The results raise questions about the continued use of traditional lecturing as a control in research studies, and support active learning as the preferred, empirically validated teaching practice in regular classrooms.

Google has become one of the most popular tools in schools today. With its broad and flexible system of apps, there are many ways to adapt them into a classroom to help you explore new and dynamic ways of presenting materials or having students build projects! If you teach in the art department (with either Studio Art or Art History), here are three ways to use Google to facilitate your classroom workflow and to allow students to showcase their work.

"Lots of experimentation lately with Green Screen by DoInk because of their recent update that allows videos to be pinched and resized within the app. This allows for some creativity that was previously not possible with this device..."Living Comic Strips"

"...we polled the Daily Genius community via social media and then curated a list of the most popular apps being used in classrooms right now. This list was compiled over the course of several months and involved a lengthy and complex Google Drive Sheet. We then boiled the list down to the top 25 (there were more than 250 submissions) apps that saw enough votes to warrant an inclusion in this list.

"What follows is the result of this effort. It’s a curated list that was built not by us – but by you. The community. That’s the whole idea behind Daily Genius by the way. It’s a professional learning community where you can easily share your expertise with the world by simply submitting an article here."

More and more classrooms are gaining access to technology that can be used with students. Whether you're modeling a lesson, creating stations, or working in a one-to-one classroom, virtual tools can promote student engagement while increasing academic success.

Here are some apps for iPads -- along with a few other tips -- that can transform your daily lessons and are definitely worth checking out!

"The concept of a Personal Learning Network (PLN) is a familiar concept these days. Yet, the nature of Personal Learning Networks is evolving as the range of tools available to support them increases, and our rapport with those tools becomes more sophisticated.

"The aim of this post is to outline the changes that appear to be taking shape, and to offer some practical strategies for teachers to supercharge their Personal Learning Networks."

Google+ was never the popular kid in school, and it looks like Google is finally ready to give up on the project and break it apart into services that people might actually want to use.

After a few rumors came forth, mainly thanks to an interview with Sundar Pichai, it’s now official: Google+ will be broken up into services. The confirmation came from Bradley Horowitz who announced he’s now the head of Photos and Streams, two elements of G+ that have now been spun off.

Interestingly enough, Pichai mentioned in his interview that Stream, Photos and Hangouts were each seen as individual powerful products. So far we haven’t heard what Google plans to do with Hangouts, arguably one of the more popular aspects of G+, but we’re sure that the product is here to stay, perhaps in some integrated way with YouTube.

We’re bound to learn more today, as Google is hosting an event in the afternoon.

At littleBits we believe in empowering more people around the world to be creators and not just consumers of technology. That is why we deeply care about supporting our community in their learning journey as makers. And starting today we are offering a FREE online course to help anyone around the world learn how to #InventAnything using littleBits.

COURSE DESCRIPTION"The course is free, online, and open to anyone who wants to participate. It is peer-powered by P2PU, and you can follow the five week curriculum starting on February 23rd or join in later if you want to go at your own pace. This course has been created to reach both those who are brand new to littleBits, as well as those with some experience points. At the end you will graduate with exclusive bitSTAR status, joining the leaders league of our community and unlocking a 20% discount."

"Bunkr is the fastest and best way to pull data and content from the web and put a presentation together. When you create your first slide, Bunkr will ask you to add content. Front and center, you will see buttons to pick the kind of content (like on Tumblr). Content can be an image, text, a video, a chart and more.

"But Bunkr’s true power lies behind these buttons. For example, when you click on video, you can either browse directly videos on compatible services or paste a URL from YouTube, Vimeo, Vine and many more services. It works exactly the same way for charts with Infogram and Chartblocks support, tweets, Facebook posts, SoundCloud songs, GitHub Gists, Sketchfab 3D models and more.

"And this is key to understanding Bunkr’s new approach. Instead of reinventing the wheel, the company will support as many services as possible to integrate well with your current workflow. Infogram knows charts much better than any presentation tool on the web. And if you update your chart on Infogram, it will automatically update your Bunkr presentation."

Voice Record Pro is a professional voice recorder. It allows you to record voice memos and on-site sounds at unlimited length with configurable quality. Recorded voices are in standard AAC/MP4/M4A format. Voice Record Pro can record directly in MP4 (AAC), MP3 (MPEG) and WAV (PCM) formats plus convert function for all supported formats.

Attention HS Flipped Classroom Science Educators

A message from Rebecca Hunley to all members of Flipped Learning Research on FLN's Professional Learning Community!

My name is Rebecca Hunley and I teach HS Biology. I am working on my dissertation on the Flipped HS Science Classroom. I am looking for 2 educators that would consider being a part of the research. The criteria is simple, teach HS science and have a flipped classroom for at least 2 years. I teach in East TN and can possibly visit or SKYPE if necessary. If you're interested please inbox me.

Thank you San Diego!Thank you to all who joined us in San Diego February 9-11, 2015, at the San Diego Convention Center. This year's event was a huge success featuring NEW conference strands, session types, and Pre-Conference Workshops plus inspiring keynotes and presentations."

Jim Lerman's insight: edtechteacher is a wonderful organization that does outstanding work with and for educators. They walk the talk by sharing a great deal of their resources, setting a terrific example for the profession. The presentation materials for presenters at this conference are all here.

Getting students active in the classroom is a tough task for any teacher. But there’s a silver bullet that is, quite literally, silver. It’s the Apple iPad and this expensive, silver, and engaging device is making its way into classrooms around the world.

Since there’s such a push to bring apps into the classroom, it’s time to figure out which ones are right for you. I threw together this cheat sheet to choosing education apps that will hopefully help you quickly choose what works (and what doesn’t).

So what are some of the best education apps for active learning? What are the top ways to get students actively engaged and interacting with one another? There are some seriously amazing iPad apps that are terrific for project-based learning, active engagement, and even flipped classrooms.

For the past few years, Edudemic has covered the rise of the flipped classroom and its subsequent evolution. Each year, we find that more teachers are testing this new learning strategy and creating new ways to improve current methods.

While some teachers are trying it out for the first time this fall, others who used the flipped classroom method in 2013 are making changes to build on their lesson plans for the 2014-15 school year. Read this brief guide to learn why flipped learning is an increasingly popular choice, and review a few steps for teachers wanting to try it out.

This will include resources from all of the best sources, from Apple’s own stuff to TeachThought to edutopia to MindShift to DMLCentral to Jackie Gerstein and more. We can update it, or make it a wiki to crowdsource the process, or you can add suggestions in the comments below. Based on the activity of the comments, and the sharing of the post, we’ll decide how to handle it moving forward.

They can make things simple, more accessible, more visible, more compelling, more convenient–there are dozens of potential benefits to you in your classroom. Clip a web page to Evernote with a single button push. Look up a reference. Model for students how to add a citation. Send a link to colleagues without opening another tab. Find a useful resource for a lesson? Scoop it. Tweet it. Pin It. Find a post you want to read? Don’t email it to yourself–use Pocket.

The criteria we used to choose each extension? The extension had to increase your efficiency, provide a benefit to content/curriculum, allow you to connect with other teachers/parents/students, or enhance your workflow as an educator. If it has the potential to meet one of these four criteria, it was included."

This is an archived Google Hangout video and audio recording of a STEMseeds interview with elementary teacher Kevin Jarrett (@kjarrett), discussing STEM lesson plans and project ideas, his educational philosophy setting up his classroom, how he’s been using MinecraftEDU in class and more! Check out our shownotes for links to referenced resources, there are a LOT of great ones from this show!

Shortcuts. They are one of my life’s most beautiful things. Whether it be backroads, organizational hacks, or even PowerPoint tips, they make life so much easier. If you are looking to save a few precious minutes the next time you present, I have gathered a few of my favorite PowerPoint shortcuts.

"Chromebooks are getting more and more popular in education, the workplace and at home. They are very useful and capable, but I still hear, "but they are only a web browser, they can't do much", etc. when in reality, they can do pretty much everything [needed in everyday situations]. UPDATE: They also work offline, contrary to popular belief."

Jim Lerman's insight:

Andrade is a savvy participant/observer in edtech. Lots of great aids posted here.

Sharing your scoops to your social media accounts is a must to distribute your curated content. Not only will it drive traffic and leads through your content, but it will help show your expertise with your followers.

Integrating your curated content to your website or blog will allow you to increase your website visitors’ engagement, boost SEO and acquire new visitors. By redirecting your social media traffic to your website, Scoop.it will also help you generate more qualified traffic and leads from your curation work.

Distributing your curated content through a newsletter is a great way to nurture and engage your email subscribers will developing your traffic and visibility.
Creating engaging newsletters with your curated content is really easy.